Between The Lines
by Animegx43
Summary: While Lucy has always looked like she was a gloomy little girl, which made it hard to tell how much of it was Lucy being Lucy, or how much of it was genuine. This is how through talking to her and reading her poetry, I really got to know my little sister.
1. The Isolated Girl

With a total of thirteen people living under the same roof, you could imagine that it would take a long time to get to know all of us. Even we've had this issue, but by this time, I've come to know all nine of my sisters and my one brother very well. I can tell a story of any one of them, many of which involving my brother, Lincoln.

But out of everyone in my family, I've always been the most concern for my first little sister, Lucy. This kid isn't just a bit weird, but she's insanely proud of it. A total goth, dresses in black, loves vampires that don't sparkle, embraces the darkness consuming around the light in the universe, and she has a love for Edgar Allen Poe. She got mad at me because I used to thought his name was Egor Alice Poo, or at least I hope that's how you actually call him.

Anyway, even though she likes creepy stuff and comes off as depressing, we all know she's happier then she lets on. We've ALL seen her smile, and over time, we can even tell when a frown means she's content or not. Don't ask how that makes any sense. It kind of doesn't.

But more importantly, she's become more open with herself, to the point that she could even talk to her own family. Even though she's always been a bit of an introvert, even now that it's her 9th birthday, back when she was seven, she was...well, still an introvert. But a very bitter one. For who knows how long, Lucy was legitimately a depressed little girl, and I still feel terrible for not realizing it. It was only in hindsight that it was obvious, but that could just be because I'm not a very smart person

It's a long story, but it's time for me, Lynn Loud Junior, to finally tell this story. The story of how, after seven years, I finally met my sister Lucy.

* * *

Let's briefly go over what I knew about her. She was gloomy, quiet...and that was kind of it. Even back then, she kept to herself, almost to a desperate level. For the longest time, she and Lincoln were the only two in the house to have a room to themselves. Lincoln had one to himself because he's the only boy in the house, so it would've been awkward to be bunked with a girl.

Lucy got a room to herself out of stubbornness. We've had to adjust living arrangements a few times, even after moving to what's now our home, but every single time, Lucy would fight to get a room to herself. Those were probably the only times we would hear her say something. Fortunately, none of us really minded. I even volunteered to share a room with the baby, who was Lisa at the time. Though, after losing my smallest toe in an "experiment", I've grown to regret that choice.

But that all changed when Lily, who is currently our youngest sibling, was on her way. With one more sister and no more rooms left in the house, someone needed to share a room with her. It might've been the first time I've ever heard Lucy raise her voice. Granted, given how quiet she's always been, it really wasn't saying anything.

"Lucy, you have to share your room. Your mother is having a baby, so-" My Dad tried to say.

"She's always having a baby." Lucy said bitterly.

Me and my sisters could hear Mom and Dad's frustration. Lucy's was hard to pick up though since even when angry, she rarely raised her voice. In fact, to hear it all, me and my sisters all had press our ears right up on Lucy's door. Lisa and the twins had to stand on some of our heads to listen in, but I knew I was tough enough to hold them all up if they asked.

"I think they all moved away from the door. I can't hear as well anymore." Lori said.

"I hear a radio. I think she's trying to ignore them." Luna noticed.

"For some reason, I'm hearing them talking a lot about Ace Savvy." Leni said.

"That's Lincoln's room! Get over here!" I ordered.

Right as my sister Leni started to make her way over to us, we heard the doorknob turn. Before the door could open, all of us had already shouted "Uh oh!", and ran back to our rooms as if we weren't even there. Unfortunately, Leni didn't, and we were all caught when she tried to listen into Lucy's room, only to place her ear on our Mom's belly.

"Weird. Lucy sounds like a baby kick."

"DANG IT, LENI!" We all shouted together.

Our Mom face palmed and groaned. In hindsight, we didn't make her pregnancy, or any other for that matter, stress free. "At least our son respects privacy. Speaking of Lincon, get him. We're having a short family meeting."

We waited for Mom and Dad to go downstairs before following them, although me and Lori, and Lincoln were the last to follow them. Lori went to get Lincoln, but I was distracted while everyone else headed down. As everyone walked downstairs, I saw Lucy peeking through her door.

I didn't know what it was, but there was something chilling I saw from Lucy's face. I see her pretty much every day, but whatever it was that I saw, it was something I had never seen before. If I had gotten a better look before she slammed the door, I might've caught it.

What I did find was a crumpled piece of paper that she accidently dropped in the haste. I walked over to pick it up, and found it was one of her poems...sort of.

* * *

 **D** arkness no longer relieves mysel **f**.  
 **A** ngered more by my new dilemm **a**.  
 **M** any more awful years of mayhe **m**.  
No good will unfold, unlike origami.  
Monsters turned your home to hell.  
You've become nothing special, Lucy.

* * *

First: I immediately hoped that she wouldn't use such harsh language after Lily was born, though there were be some irony with me thinking that later on. TL;DR, we all have sailor mouths.

Second, but more importantly: I don't know if I was meant to read this poem sideways or something, but this was a weird poem. I was never that smart, but even I knew that most poems are suppose to rhyme. I still insist that something is important with the format if she had to use hell.

During this period of time, she would continue to write more of these cryptic poems, all of which I've saved. I've never figure out the real meaning behind them, but they went on to be hints that helped me understand my younger sister. A girl who was suffering a great amount of pain, and how she would slowly but surely open up to me.

* * *

 **Author's note: So I have to admit, it's been a while since I've written a story, and even longer since I placed one here on this site. Suffice to say, I give you the first chapter of my first Loud House story.**

 **I have two goals with this one: To write subtly that I don't usually see much in story-telling in general, and to do so with something of a mini-game. It'll start off easy for the first two chapters, then you'll have to rely on the hints to figure them out yourselves. Not that figuring them out will change the story or anything. My only real clue I'll give you is that Lynn herself will make it obvious.**

 **I hope I'll be able to write a story that you'll all enjoy and maybe remove some of my rust.**


	2. A New Roommate

The family meeting was regarding Lucy's rooming situation, which by extension meant all of our rooming situations, sicne no matter what, one of us would have to become her new roommate. While we did figure things out rather quickly, every one each had their own thoughts regarding bunking with Lucy or Lily.

"I'm fine with death music, but I'm not too sure if I could handle that much death." Luna said, but overall, she seemed indifferent. "But I definitely can't handle a baby. If I don't have the garage, I need the room to practice my rock."

"I've been told I get along well with goth girls, but I can't change roommates either." Luan claimed. "Lucy never laughs, and babies do nothing but cry. Neither are good for a comedian's morale."

"Wait, do I have to give up my room too? Because, I kind of like having my alone time." Lincoln said, who didn't like the idea of sharing a room either. He's a boy, so it would've been awkward anyway.

"I don't trusht anyone who I can't get a retina scan from." Lisa added. "On the other hand, a baby in the room would mean a fresh supply of stool samples at all times."

As luck would happen, no one would argue with Lisa at that point. It was probably because everyone else were still freaked out her, but during the silence, Mom and Dad agreed it would make sense for the two youngest daughters to share a room. This also made it simple to decide what to do with Lucy.

Since Lisa would have to move out of my room, it meant that there was a vacancy, and I was okay with that since it meant having someone older than three to hang around with. I always liked playing contact sports, and Lisa was always too small and nerdy to want to play with me. I was sure that Lucy would've been mature enough to appreciate sports.

Spoiler alert: I was wrong.

I still remember how it all happened. While we were all at school, my Dad had to single-handedly move everything from Lucy's room to my room, and boy was he sore after. Lucy didn't actually want to move, our mother was due soon and was only able to do so much, and Lucy insisted that none of us were allowed to touch anything of hers. But since everything was done in that one day, Lucy couldn't put up any kind of resistance.

When we all came home after school, the first thing me and Lucy wanted to do, and I must admit that it's funny that this was what we first agreed on, was to check out our new room.

It looked very much like what it looks like to this day. Some sports stuff hanging on the wall on my side of the room, and Lucy's nicer looking bed and a personal desk on her side, and a set of drawers with my lamp in the middle of the room. I also had some junk all around the room, but I guess my Dad cleaned it.

And then, for what might have been the for the first time ever, Lucy turned to me and spoke.

"Stay out of my half of the room."

It wasn't a very nice thing. And right after that, she went in to a box of her things that was on her bed. She didn't noticed that I went in too as she started to unpack her stuff, and aside from moving my lamp on the table towards my side of the room, she only really acknowledged what was hers. I had to admit, for someone who was so territorial, she really respected other people's space and privacy.

I don't though. When I saw it, I picked up a a small book Lucy placed on her side of the drawer and took a read at what she wrote, assuming it was her diary.

More crushed then ever  
Nine sisters and one brother  
That's ten too many.

"What is this, one of those hachoo things?" I asked.

She ripped the book out of my hands, barely looking at me. "Haiku. A Japanese poem with 17 syllables."

"And another one that doesn't even rhyme."

I guess I made her mad, because instead of finishing her unpacking, she decided jump on her bed, open her book back up, and then started writing in it. She would occasionally glimpse over at me, only to go back to writing. I knew she didn't want anything to do with me, but I've never been a quitter.

"What are you writing now?" I asked.

She didn't say anything. She gave me another dirty look, but that was pretty much all she did. I then remembered that I still had the poem from that one time she dropped it. The one where I thought I had to read sideways. I took it out from a drawer and passed it to her. I was determine to show her that I was at least interested in what she was writing.

"I still have one of your poems. I liked it. I didn't completely understood it, like how it didn't rhyme or anything, but for some reason, I kind of liked it."

She quickly snatched the poem out of my hands and quickly looked it over. She seemed annoyed with me for a moment, but then she kind of seemed...less annoyed. At the very least, she finally said something.

"It's a free verse poem. I've been experimenting with my poetry like that recently. Been trying a bunch of ways to hide my true messages. Like a diary in a diary."

"Or a secret code?" I asked.

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Writing one right now, with that haiku giving me the idea."

It was at that point when Lucy was actually opening up. I brought up her hobby and expressed interest. "Mind if I read it?"

I admit, I was pushing my luck. I may have brought up her favourite hobby, but I didn't think she would even like me yet, so it would've made sense if she said no. She was definitely hesitant about it. But I guess after thinking about it, she passed her book to me to let me read her newest poem. Much to my surprise, this one actually rhymed.

* * *

Bother by sister Lynn.  
No more privacy ever in the Loud Inn.  
Here in my new prison  
Two damsels met, the jock listen  
Bothers the goth  
Yet better than a vampiric moth.  
So I guess I'll live with Lynn.

* * *

Now, she said her haiku was the inspiration, but I couldn't quite get it. She said a haiku had 17 syllables, but I couldn't figure out what to do with 17 syllables or words with this thing. None of her poetry seemed like something I could completely figure out. I still made sure I kept track of her older stuff just in case I could figure it out someday.

But, even though I couldn't tell what he hidden message was, I could at least figure out what she thought of me. She still didn't want to share a room with me, but I guess our little chat made her more open to the idea.

"You made this just now? I kind of like it." I told her as I gave her book back. "Mine if keep reading them some time?"

She sighed, then took the book back. "I guess. I could use a proof-reader who's not a spirit, or Fangs."

"I need to prove to you that I can read?" I asked her, and just to be clear, I do know now what proofreading means.

But I guess that was where Lucy lost interest in me started to decorate her half of the room, quickly acting as if I wasn't there anymore. I decided to grab a few of my balls to go play outside. I felt that I made some progress with getting along with my little sister.

It would still take me a while longer though to really "get" Lucy, but even to this day, no one in Loud family really gets her completely. After all, she's Lucy Loud. The one thing that has never changed is the fact that she's so quiet and creepy. That's just her shtick. And truth be told, that's kind of why we like her.

It's why I decided that I wanted to get to know her.

* * *

 **Author's notes: So truth be told, I've been sitting on the second chapter since publishing the first. Was hoping to finish chapter 3 before uploading this one, but I figured "Meh. Why keep waiting.". Still gonna try sitting on chapters like that though. I'm also going to try and aim for 2k words per chapter now.**

 **I think I'll also keep writing in "clues", but I want to keep them as subtle as possible.**

 **And lastly, I'm changing the genre for this story to what it is now. I feel like my use of comedy doesn't match the hurt/comfort genre. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what to have it down officially, but family and poetry makes the most sense to me right now.**

 **And that's all I personally have to say. Hope you like the story so far and I'll update when I can.**


	3. Hanging Out

Now even though I made what I thought was a good impression on Lucy, she still took her time to really opening up with anyone, even the most say to me was "what do you think of this poem?". And for the most part, that was exclusively done when we were both in our room.

At the time, I was still in elementary school, though I was in the sixth grade, so it was the last year where I'd be at Royal Woods Elementary. Regardless, that meant that I was still in the same school as Lucy. I would often run into Lincoln in between class, but I don't think I've ever actually seen Lucy there, even though I knew for a fact that she went there.

So during recess, I decided to talk to Lincoln about it. He's always been able to get along with all of his sisters, but more importantly, he seemed like the only sibling in the family that Lucy was at least neutral with. I wasn't sure if he was just really nice or a closet goth or if does her homework, but he seemed like the only person in the family she didn't hate.

"I asked her once. She thought I hated her." Lincoln said.

I almost lost my sanity during a three second pause. I had to know. "WHY!?"

"I really don't know. She's made a lot of assumptions. It's like she thought I had a grudge or something, but really, I don't remember doing a thing to her. I've herd her complain about Lisa and the twins, but I know for a fact I've done nothing to her."

"Ugh! This is so stupid." I said angrily. "I'm trying to be nice to her, but for all I know, I did something to get her mad too. Was it my bouncy balls? How I read her poetry? Was it that time I showed her where my one toe used to be? I just wanted to know if it looked infected!"

"I...think... it's because we have such different mindsets. And interests." He suggested. "During recess, she tends to be with her spooky friends. Usually somewhere with a lot of shade, very little sun, and usually far enough away from the four-square that you don't get hit by a dropped ball."

"Oooooh...wow, so I've never been near her at all then. Like...ever."

It felt like a bit of a wakeup call knowing that I was practically avoiding Lucy all this time, so I decided that I would invite her to join me to play four-square. I remember Lincoln trying to talk me out of it, but I kind of stopped listening to him after that. Now that I think about it though, I should try bonding with him more.

Anyway, I took what I learned and walked around the schoolyard for the rest of that recess so I could play with Lucy. You would be surprised by how hard it is to find a group of goth kids during the day. They sort of just blend in with the shadows they hide in. I had to keep my eyes peeled until I found she and her friends were hanging out at the school's brick wall the whole time. Stupid Sun shining on the wrong angle.

So I found the goth kids, and sure enough, Lucy was there too. They weren't playing a game or anything, but were just chilling in the shade. I don't remember at all what they were talking about. I just remembered that they all looked like a bunch of vampires. Accept for this one short kid that was laughing. I swear, he looked like a supervillain.

But that was what surprised me the most. Not the fact that one of them was laughing, but even Lucy Loud herself, the queen of gloom, was smiling. I had never seen that before. Even her one friend, Haiku, kind of just looked like Lucy with a visible eye, but even had a smirk the whole time.

I have no idea what they were talking about. All I knew was that it made my little sister happy. I kind of felt like I wasted my entire recess worrying about her, but I did at least learn goths could actually be happy, which kind of blew my mind by itself. In any case, my mind was at ease for the rest of school.

After school was when the flags started to wave again.

I still wanted to try bonding with her, so I waited after school to walk home with her. Lucy had been learning how to stuff dead animals from some of her older friends. A lot of us in the family have our own things to do after school a lot of the time, and with a family THIS big, there's always someone busy.

Lucky for me, I only had practice for one of my teams, so I didn't need to stay too late after school. So all I had to do was stand at the front of the school and wait for he to come out of the school.

Ended up waiting for about an hour. Once again, I felt like I wasted a lot of time. It wasn't even until her friend Haiku left that I found out Lucy had already left. No idea how or when, but she completely avoided me. I was a bit upset. I would've felt like I was stucked up too, but Lucy didn't actually know what I was planning on doing. The worst part of being mad at someone is when you can't actually be mad at them.

Now this is where my efforts proved to not be in vain, and I'm not sure if it was destiny or luck or whatever. There's a river that my rowing team likes practicing at, and I would often go by it on my way home. While following, guess who I see?

Lucy, hanging out at the old stone bridge above the river. She was sitting on top of the ledge, swinging her legs and just staring out at the river. I had no idea what she was doing. I was just glad that I finally found her.

So I walk up to her and said... "Hey Lucy."

She turned her head and replied in her usual tone. "Peter Freaking Murphy! You scared me. Someone should put a bell on you."

...

I only now realize the irony of what she told me back then.

In any case, I still wanted a a chance to hang out with Lucy outside of the house, so I jumped up on the ledge and sat right next to her. I looked out at the river to see what she might have been looking at...but all I could see was a boring old river. No one was swimming, no boats, no fish jumping up. There was nothing out there.

I felt a bit playful. So I grabbed her shoulder, shook her shoulder, laughed, and said... "Whoa. Saved your life there."

"Too bad. I would've like the swim." She said grimly.

She really made things difficult. I bet if she was that supervillain, she would've laughed. She made me wonder if even Luan could her laugh. I couldn't even tell if she was enjoying herself doing nothing. Then again, she never liked being with people. I remembered what Lincoln said, so I started thinking I was the problem. Here I wanted to hang out with her, only to start thinking she wanted to avoid me.

I wanted to get to the bottom of it. "So why are you out here. Would've thought you'd be home by now." I finally asked her.

"I like coming out here at night. But sometimes, I'll come here just to think in peace." She answered. There was a pause after, so I almost thought I'd have to say something again, but I guess she wanted to think before saying something. "I sometimes don't want to be at home."

I still had what Lincoln told me on my mind. I started feeling a bit hurt myself at the thought, but I had to ask her directly to know for sure." Lucy, do...do you hate me?"

She looked at me funny when I asked her that. "Why would I hate you? You should be the one to hate me."

From there, my emotions made a complete 180. I was upset at the idea of Lucy hating me, only to then be confused as to why I would hate Lucy. I was a little mad that she left school without me knowing, but I didn't want her to know that.

"Come on. Let's head home." I told her.

She let out an annoyed sigh. She didn't say the word sigh like she's known for, but actually sighed for real. After that, she jumped down, grabbed her backpack, and started walking home without me.

I followed after, but I didn't jump down, but rather walked on the bridge's ledge since it was more than wide enough, just to try to look relax. "Listen buddy, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but I do like you, and I want to at least try and get along with you. You're my sister after all."

"You have eight more of those at home. Soon, nine." She said.

As we reached the end of the bridge, and run up ahead and jumped right in front of her, so she would look at me as I asked my next question. "Do you not like our sisters?"

She looked down, trying to avoid eye contact. Then again, I never know when she makes eye contact. "They...it's...it's really complicated. Don't make me talk about it."

It was then that she looked more down than ever. I don't how, but I managed to touch a sore spot with her. She didn't hate Lincoln, she didn't hate me, I just couldn't figure out what her problem was with our family. And because she refused to talk about it, I wasn't even sure if she knew.

I needed some more time with her. "Want to play something when we get home? Your pick."

So the good news was that I managed to cheer her right back up.

* * *

The bad news, I ended up feeling a bit bummed out myself. As we got home, Lucy brought me straight to our room, got our pets, dimmed the room, and...well, it's kind of weird to really explain the preparations. Now even though Lucy wasn't smiling her, I had a good feeling that she was at least relaxed. We didn't even start yet, and we were already having more interaction than we ever had before.

"So tell me, how we play science, and shouldn't we get Lisa for this?" I asked her

"To perform a séance, we must sit in a circle, hold our hands, and allow me to serve as our medium. I have to say, it's nice to have another human to do this with. Now when we're ready, we can start talking to Great Grandma Harriet."

"Uhh, Lucy? Grandma Harriet died last year. You know that, right?"

"Sigh. I guess I'll have to explain this slowly to you...again."

Now me not knowing how her séance works isn't an important detail. I probably shouldn't have even included it. But in hindsight, her saying the word sigh instead of actually sighing for real is quite a good thing. That's how she acts now, and we've kind of accepted it as a sign that she's actually happy. It's good to know that I did make more progress than I realized.

"Okay. We're all ready now." Lucy said. "I just need to pee real quick and we can get the show on the road. Be right back."

So I had to wait another minute or so before could actually start her spooky séance. Since it had been a few days, I decided to use the chance o catch up on a little reading. I had finally learned what proofreading meant, so I was sure Lucy would've been thankful if I took a look at what she wrote.

So I walked over to her bed, picked up her poetry book, and took a look at her newest entry. Oh boy, was it ever a good thing I decided to proofread it. It was pretty bad.

* * *

The Spotlight

The first to enter it became admired  
All eyes on her, receiving their praise  
Then the second comes, the first fired  
Her time in the light wwas only a phhase

No one wants to leave the light  
Theyy say it belongs only to me  
But even wwith aall of their might  
They will become nothing to see

I sstole theiir fame  
only to be replaced  
Robbbed of my flame  
In what felt like a haste

A new oone steals our light  
which is with all of ourr fate  
As with every nnew blight  
This will feel all of my hate

* * *

I mean, geez! Look at all of those spelling errors. I'm terrible at writing stuff, but even I could stop all of those. I understand if you typed up a few mistakes on a computer, but how could you write that many with a pen?

It did feel like quite a sad story though. I've been the star in my school's Track And Field events for the last few years, and it really hurt me if suddenly, someone new came along and kicked my butt at everything. Lucy once told me that writing of any kind can be interpreted in anyway the reader like, so i feel less dumb for not completely getting it.

By the time I finished reading and put the book down, Lucy had came back. I ran right back to where I was sitting to pretend I never moved, just in case she didn't want me to read her stuff without her around.

"Okay. Now everyone gather around, as I begin to speak with Great Grandma Harriet."

I will say, I didn't particularly care for sitting in the dark, holding hands with our cat and dog, and pretend to talk to our dead Grandma. But it was something Lucy liked for whatever reason. And for the time being, I was willing to play along.

"Grandma Harriet knows you were the one who broke her pearl neckless." She told me.

But after that, I made sure to avoid every one of her séance if possible. It got too freaky too quickly.

* * *

 **Author's notes: Screw it. I don't care if it has comedy in it, I consider this a hurt/comfort story and that's what I'm branding it as. At the very least, I feel it shows starting from this point on.**

 **Also proud that I hit the 2000 word mark. Feeling like I got my writing groove back on. My one concern is that I may have made the secret too easy to find this chapter. Makes me wonder if the other two have been found yet.**


End file.
